Sensitivity of a 40 GHz HEMT low-noise amplifier to material and processing variations

The design of a monolithic, single-stage low-noise amplifier at 40 GHz for application to satellite communication is presented. The amplifier includes a single 0.25- mu m-gate-length HEMT active device with on-chip matching and biasing circuits. A gain of 8 dB and a noise figure of 4 dB were measured from 36 to 42 GHz for an amplifier with a mushroom gate profile. Using a triangular-gate-profile device with a lower gate-to-drain feedback capacitance, the amplifier achieves a 10 dB peak gain at 43 GHz. The chip size is 1.1*1.1 mm/sup 2/.<
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